Sometimes, no matter how smart, connected, and well-resourced you are, you simply need an expert—and not just any expert, but the rarefied insider whom other specialists call when they need help. Luckily, Robb Report has a roster of such world-class pros on speed dial. We’re even rolling out a highly curated directory of heavy hitters across categories: the Masters of Luxury.
This month, it’s Eric Wind. Wind is a bespectacled and genial former Christie’s adviser who struck out on his own eight years ago, quickly establishing his firm, Wind Vintage, as a trustworthy source for the best collectible timepieces. He’s renowned for his no-nonsense expertise and painstaking attention to detail—fueled by a passion for vintage watches that was kick-started at age 22, when he inherited his grandfather’s 1947 Hamilton.
Have a conundrum you’d like to see solved? Email askrobb@robbreport.com.
The Expert
Name: Eric Wind
Occupation: Watch dealer and expert
HQ: Palm Beach, Fla.
Specialty: Vintage-watch savant, collection fixer
The Big Question
I’ve dabbled in watches for several years, but I’m ready to get much more serious about building a collection with value and integrity. I need advice on how to go from amateur to semipro, please.
Three things matter right now when it comes to vintage, says Wind: “Condition, condition, condition.” Wind warns that manufacturers often meddle with timepieces during service, swapping out dials or hands. “That can devalue it by over 90 percent, as can polishing it,” he notes—spruced-up watches are likelier to be less collectible than ones in a drawer.
Value can be counterintuitive, especially at the ultra-premium end. Case in point: the Patek Philippe 1518 in steel. “One’s coming up for auction and should exceed $10 million. A yellow-gold model is worth more like $500,000,” he says. “The white metals are very rare because most people at the time wanted yellow gold.” What once telegraphed cheapness now confers extreme value. Wind himself isn’t fixated on headline-grabbers, though, as evidenced by his collection of pocket watches. “They’re just beautiful things to hold and have as a desk accessory, and the quality of craftsmanship is even better in many respects than wristwatches, because it’s a larger palette to work with,” he explains. Superb vintage Omega or Longines pocket watches are still readily available for $1,000 or less. “I hand them to my kids to wind up, and it gets them interested in watches.”
Buying at retail? Wind says F. P. Journe has adopted a transparent approach that other brands would do well to echo: Collectors learn up front which models they’ll be eligible to buy year by year. Compare that with bigger names like Rolex or Patek Philippe, where the payoff for spending more is deliberately obscured. “People are told to buy all these watches they’re going to lose a lot of money on, and it’s very unclear if they’ll ever get the watches that they want offered to them.”
Speed Round
Most overlooked vintage watch or brand?
Heuer, the predecessor of TAG Heuer. These vintage sport chronographs from the 1960s were the dominant watches used in F1.
Foolproof vintage-watch purchase?
Rolex Explorer ref. 1016 is always a classic—and elegant. It’s the one watch to have if you’re going to have one.
Bargain watch everyone should buy?
Vulcain Cricket—under $2,000 in many cases. Vulcain spent almost 10 years creating a wristwatch alarm loud enough to wake a person up, which was an incredible innovation in 1947 when it came out. Truman, Eisenhower, even Joe Biden all had one.
Mythical collection you’re keen to examine?
Sultan Qaboos of Oman—no one has seen it, and he had most of the James Ward Packard watches made by Patek and others. And Claude Sfeir, a big collector based in Lebanon who’s talked about opening a museum and has some of the most incredible Rolexes.
Cutoff date for vintage?
The year 1989. That’s the end of the use of acrylic crystals, which are more domed and easier to scratch than sapphire.
Emerging brands you’re watching?
Universal Genève, which has been acquired by Breitling. It made some amazing watches from the 1930s to 1960s—Polerouter and Tri-Compax—but suffered in the quartz crisis and went defunct.
Either | Or
Visually appealing and kinda fun, like the Rolex GMT Master ref. 1675.
Many times, when you see the box and papers, it’s fake.
You can wear it anywhere. It’s water-resistant and more robust.
A glossy gilt dial from the 1960s is mesmerizing, like a pool of oil.
The photo aspect is so important—you can’t appreciate the details of a watch in a video.